Report from Chattanooga vs Tennesee 5/27/06

[halcyon]

So, I went to my first ever Reds affiliate minor league baseball game. Had a great time watching the Lookouts face the Smokies outside of Sevierville, TN. Dumatrait pitched - and if anyone was wondering - he looked pretty rough. After three innings, he had a good stat line, but he was giving up rockets all over the field. In the fourth he gave up a grand slam to the pitcher. In retrospect, they probably shouldn't have intentionally walked the 8 hitter who was hovering in the .230 range anyways. Guevara relieved and got slapped around a little but kept additional runs off the board. Kozlowski pitched two scoreless to finish it but even he got hit hard. Most of the hitters looked overmatched except for Votto who was 2-4 with a bomb and was robbed of another gapper by a nice diving catch.

A few questions, for those more astute than I. First, what's the scouting report on Guevara? He has a good statline, but he didn't look overpowering at all.
Secondly, there were at least 3-4 scouts sitting around us behind the plate. My friend and I could read at least two of their guns and both were consistently different and both were also different from the stadium gun. The stadium gun was always slower than both of the scouts readings. What reading are we supposed to trust? The scout guns would often be radically different.

[KittyDuran]

I really like the Smokies ballpark - very intimate plus the campground on the hill in the outfield is unusual and adds to the atmosphere. As far as your question about the radar guns, I find most minor league ballpark stadium guns to be sort of slow (if they are working at all - Dayton's hasn't worked all year). I don't know if it's the angle or what that makes the difference.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by KittyDuran

I find most minor league ballpark stadium guns to be sort of slow (if they are working at all - Dayton's hasn't worked all year).

The one time I have gone this year, the Radar gun was working. Zach Ward was pitching. April 24th I think.

[WebScorpion]

Radar gun readings will always differ depending on whether they're checking the speed of the ball as it leaves the hand(fastest), partway to the plate(middle), or as it crosses the plate(slowest). They should really install a radar device in each catchers' mitt and do away with all this inconsistency.

[tbball10]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

The one time I have gone this year, the Radar gun was working. Zach Ward was pitching. April 24th I think.

what was ward throwing?

[dougdirt]

Zach was throwing his fastball in the 88-89 range consistantly. I only looked about 15-20 times, and more often than not, he was not throwing his fastball, so I probably only saw 5 fastballs on the radar gun. The game he pitched wasnt the best game ever, but it wasnt completely bad either.

[Heath]

Originally Posted by tbball10

what was ward throwing?

Probably a baseball. Though, the way Dragons pitchers are throwing, it may look like to opposing players like a watermelon. (Unless your name is Cueto.)